


things you said when you thought i was asleep

by helo572



Series: Tumblr Prompts [13]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Siblings, Angst, Character Death, Drabble, F/M, Gen, Tumblr Prompt, aka Commander Shepard is dead and her sibling is mourning her death as Captain of the Normandy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 05:05:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15988232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helo572/pseuds/helo572
Summary: “Hey, Tess.”





	things you said when you thought i was asleep

**Author's Note:**

> this is #12 from [this ask meme](http://talizorahs.tumblr.com/post/178071077459/send-me-a-ship-and-one-of-these-and-ill-write-a) ! thank you to [vex](http://vexedwrites.tumblr.com/) for prompting me.
> 
> my kwon shepard is featured as captain shepard. tae-yeon shepard is the canon commander for mass effect 1 and perishes in the mass effect 2 prologue.

“Hey, Tess.” 

 

The words wake Miranda in what she knows is the middle of the night. However soft, the emotion behind them begs her attention and her concern, directed at the Captain bundled in a blanket. He sits at his desk, bleary eyed and half-asleep.

 

 “Happy birthday. You’d be thirty today, the big three-oh.”

 

Her heart aches for him.

 

“We were going to throw this back party. Invite all your Alliance buddies. Eomma. Maybe even Jung-Seo. I was going to tell this big story about how you… you were my role model. How I always looked up to you. At first, it was gonna be a  _fuck you_  to everyone, but I didn’t want it to take away from the fact I meant it. Every single word. I  _do_  look up to you, Tess, I always have. I always will. Even though you’re gone, I… I still do. I always find myself asking what you would do. Even the way you might talk to your friends.” 

 

He laughs, genuinely, and leans back into his chair. Relaxes. Miranda’s heart aches a little less.

 

“Garrus, right? Hell of a guy. Told me all about his mods to the Normandy back when you were commanding. Showed me how Cerberus incorporated it all in because his designs were  _better_. Like, than the Alliance’s original build. Crazy, right? He told me, and I was laughing with him, then I realised you probably opposed the hell out of it. God. It makes me wonder if I really am turning into you.”

 

Miranda never met Tae-Yeon Shepard, the Hero of the Citadel, but she  _knows_  Kwon Shepard is a spitting image of her. She wishes he could see it. She wishes she could comfort him about it, but this is private, not meant for her ears. His way of mourning her.

 

“I really miss you, sis. Like, a lot. But knowing you, turning thirty today, you’d spend it complaining about how old you feel. How you remember turning eighteen  _just yesterday_.”

 

He laughs again, but it’s softer, filled with more reflection. It quickly gives way to a sigh, but Kwon is smiling softly. Miranda traces it with her eyes against his lips, in the low light. It suits him, being emotional.

 

“Happy birthday, Tae-Yeon. I hope it’s a good one.”

 

She’s gone, long gone, but Miranda talks to her contacts anyway. They get back to her within the day, meaning by the afternoon, Kwon has an anonymous email to a published article with Citadel News Net. It’s linked with other, smaller news corps that report all across the galaxy.

 

She isn’t there when he opens it, but Specialist Traynor sends him up to his quarters to read it at 15:02: two minutes after its published for the galactic community to see.

 

_The Life, and Life, and Commander Tae-Yeon Shepard  
_ _The First Human Spectre, the Hero of the Citadel, and a Much Loved Sister._

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading <3


End file.
